Creating Chaos - For Fitness & Sport Professionals

Myself and my lovely wife Jen were spoilt yesterday with a trip to the Hatton Gym near Manchester to experience life as a professional boxer (for 1 day). I don't think I'll be turning pro any time soon but the experience was fantastic and a real insight into the 'behind the scenes stuff'.

As someone who is passionate about training health and fitness, I'm well aware that in sport, often there is a big divide between best practice and what is actually done.  However, I must say that what we witnessed in the Hatton camp was very impressive and goes to show that modern methods are being employed at the top level.

Ric Moylan, head fitness coach at camp Hatton explained "I took my role a couple of years ago and I must say that it's been a difficult journey arriving at what you see today". Ric went on to say "When I started working in pro boxing, I had to combat a lot of beliefs and indoctrination that had been embed into the mindset of boxers"

Ric's first challenge was to get boxers to start lifting weights. This may sound surprising but many boxers now under Ric's wing believed that weight training would lead to adding bulk, slowing down their speed and ultimately making them heavier. One of the most crucial elements of boxing is weight. Staying light whilst maintaining high strength and power ratio is crucial to help fighters step into the ring with the advantage over the oponent. Ric managed to educate them that having more strength would help them hit harder and this seemed to do the trick. It wasn't an immediate transition though as many boxers have been set into a training mentality since the age of 6 or 7 years old.

This may appear a strange title for a blog, after all, there can't be that many occasions when trainers are looking to off-load clients. Moving abroad? Industry change? I'm sure you can agree that most coaches would be far more interested in how to keep hold of clients. This is quite a difficult art to get across as it is completely relative to the type of clients you have and their behaviours. So why am I writing this? Well, after years of managing, mentoring and assisting personal trainers, it's much easier to point out the things that send clients packing. Therefore, if you can avoid making these mistakes, you'll be well on your way to keeping hold of those coveted lifetime clients:

• Making suggestions is better than being a dictator. Ok, we've all got areas of expertise and great knowledge that can hugely benefit clients. Some clients will take your suggestions on board straight away, others may have the best intentions and lack the execution and others may dismiss it. That's just life and we all have different beliefs that can often shape how we accept information. Being a personal trainer is a very privileged position and clients will often confide in you leaving you advising on all sorts of areas of their life. Demanding clients to make certain choices is patronising and an abuse on the client-trainer relationship. Not only does telling clients what to do pre-suggest they don't understand right from wrong, it also pre-supposes that what you are saying is absolute fact. Unless you've conducted your own empirical research, your knowledge is based on the teaching of others and we all work in a fast moving industry where research can often contradict the practises of decades. The last thing you want is a client turning up in a few years time blaming you for telling them to make a certain decision. Simply make suggestions.
• Give your clients choice. Some more than others but we all enjoy a degree of control, especially in our day to day lives. Giving your clients choice over the exercises they do, the food choices they make and the paths they lead will not only help them to start making more informed choices, it also gives them a certain ownership over the programme which will aid their level of commitment.
• Listen to your client. It baffles me how many assumptions are made by people working in the fitness industry. A friend of my wife recently joined a gym. For the purposes of this article, let's call her Sarah. Upon Sarah's induction, she was met with a young and enthusiastic fitness instructor who's job was to fully introduce Sarah to the gym and give her a tailored programme. Sarah is sporty and has been for years. Her aim was to improve her strength and her performance in hockey. "So, where are you looking to lose weight from?" was the first enquiry of the instructor. "I'm not looking to lose weight, I just want to improve my performance in hockey, improve my speed and strength". "Ok, obliged the instructor". The first machine introduced was a seated adductor machine "This will help you lose weight and tone around your inner thigh". Sarah retorted "I'm not looking to lose weight, I just want to know how to increase strength". This went on and 3 or 4 more exercise stations were shown that could apparently burn fat like no other. Whilst many clients are looking to change aesthetics in someway, this isn't a pre-cursor for every client. Listen to what your client wants and relate everything to that. There's a big hint in what clients want. This is precisely what they value.

There's plenty more examples of common errors that are made. I'm sure you've seen some too. Please add to this with experiences that you've witnessed.

I get asked quite a lot about how CV's should look by fitness professionals. As much as my experiences have told me quite a few things, I'm certainly no expert in CV writing.

A close friend who runs a hugely successful marketing recruitment consultancy put together this video with his top pointers on CV writing. Whilst it's designed for marketing professionals, the points are absolutely relevant for anyone in the fitness industry. If anyone knows how to put together CV's then Jonathan does. His company see thousands of CV's every year and know the difference that makes the difference.

Make sure you don't miss that position and watch this video!!

As trainers, we can often get very tied up in the mechanics or finer detail of exercises or nutrition and lose sight of the bigger picture.

When looking after coaches, I often see such dedication to helping clients move properly, understand the exercises and know which muscles should be working and it's great to see. All that time spent keeping the eyes open whilst preparing for an anatomy and physiology exam really was worth it. The question is, can it be lost on your clients or could it be put across more effectively.

I'll put my hands up right now in acknowledgement that my passion lies in depth of detail. I can often lose myself let alone a client when talking about the microscopic inner workings of shoulder mechanics through abduction but is this really necessary??

• Use the simplest descriptions that make sense to your clients. For example, we all know that getting the glutes working properly will support most standing or upright exercises and help reduce synergistic dominance. Explaining synergistic dominance in scientific detail to your client isn't necessary. If your client likes cars or is a mechanic then simply explain 'without the glutes, doing these exercises would be like running a car without 1st or 2nd gear - very inefficient!'
• Don't over-ask your client 'How are you?' This isn't me being inconsiderate but the fact is, you're spending time conditioning your client and this can be physically and mentally demanding. Time and time again I hear trainers ask clients 'How you doing?' mid-session. The intention is great and endearing but the response is limited. What can you expect your client to say when they're working hard?? 'I'm shattered' or ' Can't speak'. Be specific with your questions and help lay down expectations. If you're doing shoulder exercises then explain that you are looking to work the shoulder muscles and that fatigue in those areas is a good thing. Asking where they are feeling particular exercises is a much more specific and useful question to help you coach. Asking your client their state at the beginning of the session is obviously a pleasant greeting although 'Are you well?' is even better as this nudges them towards giving a positive response.
• When coaching through demanding sessions, there may be times where your client is unable to verbalise a response but this doesn't mean you cannot interact. Getting them to nod or make a gesture in response to your statements can be enough to keep a healthy rapport and here is a simple but brilliant way to do it. Add tag questions on the end of your statements and encourage your clients to agree with you. 'Knowing that you're doing the exercise properly makes a big difference, doesn't it?' You don't demand a response other than an acknowledgement and your client will be unconsciously taking steps towards agreeing with you and building that trust and rapport. Knowing how to build the relationship between you and your client is going to help the growth of your business isn't it?